THE Tories last night condemned the withdrawal of Government funding for neighbourhood warden schemes across the North-East.

The areas affected are Easington, Gateshead, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland, South Tyneside, Stockton, Newcastle and Wear Valley.

It follows the winding-up of funding for a further eight neighbourhood warden schemes last year, including Darlington, Sedgefield and Sunderland.

The Government immediately insisted it was always the intention to "kick-start" all such schemes - leaving it up to local authorities to decide whether to continue.

But Caroline Spelman, Conservative local government spokeswoman, said Tony Blair had pledged to treble funding for wardens during the recent election campaign.

And she accused the government of "covertly" stopping funds - despite its pledges to tackle a loss of respect on the streets.

The Government is pumping £93m into the wardens initiative between 2000 and 2006, placing uniformed, council-employed officers on the streets of estates.

They are designed to act as a link to other services, speeding up the response to everything from gang disorder to problems with litter, graffiti and abandoned vehicles.

Mrs Spelman said: "Communities that want to keep their wardens and tackle yob behaviour will have to pay higher council taxes - on top of the soaring police levy on council tax bills."

However, a spokeswoman for the office of the Deputy Prime Minister said more than 80 per cent of warden schemes did continue after the withdrawal of Government funding.

She added: "Local authorities have themselves asked the Government to stop ring-fenced grants, as they want to have more flexibility in determining how they spend their own funds."

A spokesperson for Darlington Borough Council said: "We've always known Government funding would not be there forever.

"We have budgeted through our medium-term financial plan over a number of years to ensure that we can continue the service fully without any impact on other services."

Sedgefield Borough Council started one of the first community warden schemes in the country, even before the Government allocated cash, so it will continue to fund the scheme itself.